The special friendships between the people of Saudi Arabia and Americans living in their midst is fondly portrayed in the book "Forever Friends", compiled by Dr. Michael Crocker.  This book is about the emotions and experiences of young people who came with their parents to live in Saudi Arabia and formed their view of the world through the lens of a different culture and custom - it is about their experiences.

The book came about as a project thought up by a man of foresight and perception that history should be told as it was lived by those that were there, so be it.  I first heard about the idea while drinking the traditional coffee and tea with Dr. Fahd Al-Semmari in his office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  I was a guest, having left my beloved Arabia twenty years before and brought back by the magic of the desert song that still sang in my heart, and the generosity of my Saudi hosts who have become my friends, again, as they always were.

The project was difficult:  Try to find the American Aramco children who had grown up in Saudi Arabia.  Then to contact them and ask them to take time from their lives to write their thoughts, their stories, their very beliefs, and send those writings to me.

I had the privilege to meet three great men of Saudi Arabia, each one influencing me and developing my love for them and my blending with the tradition and custom of this wondrous land.  I met King Abdulaziz when I was about five years of age, King Saud when I was eight, and King Faisal when I was older and able to appreciate the true meaning of the King.  I was an American with a President, but I was also a man loyal to a King.

So it was with great honor that I attempted to assist my friends of the Land of King Abdulaziz in the preparation of this book.  My final words on this must be what I wrote some time ago and write here again.

I am the son of two houses:  The House of Saud and the House of America, arriving in the Land of King Abdulaziz in 1951!  I grew up to love the desert and the beauty of the Arab way of life.  I grew up secure in the knowledge that the Saudi people would protect me and that the oil company my Father worked for would provide for me.  My Father knew about the Kingdom and spoke to me as a small child of his love of the desert, and perhaps this was the start of my love.

I learned many things from my friends and continue to do so today.  I learned the cruelty of the desert heat and the deepness of the night’s cold, but also the beauty of the singing dunes and the sky at night when the stars were within touch.

I learned of the generosity of the King and the hospitality of the people.  I learned of the swift and sure justice of the Islamic way and respected life and law, even more so because of it.  I spent time in the sands with the Bedouin and learned never to be lost.  And, most of all, I learned I was always among friends.

The oil company gave me the finest in education.  The Saudis taught me honor and dignity, loyalty and fidelity.  In a Bedouin tent in the Rub’al Khali, I learned how to survive and how to track.  I rode an Arabian stallion with the wind along the shores of Azizia beach.  The majesty of this land was an opera for me, and the songs it sang filled my heart with a calmness and peace never found again.  Friendships made and brothers lost made Arabia more my home than the flag of my birth.

As each of the mighty Kings left us, the desert sands stopped their movement and lay quiet in honor and respect for these leaders of this land called “Saudi Arabia”.  At each instance, my own tears flowed into the sand as if I had lost a father, and truly I had.  The Great Kings of Arabia were like the lion of the desert.  When their hearts stopped, the land was moved by their passing.  They were of the people of God.

In all of this, I, a mere child of the sand, have become a man of Arabia.  I may only say that in this, I have truly been blessed by God.

Thank you, my beloved Arabia, for the life you gave me, the faith you allowed me to learn, the knowledge of my family and the friendship, fellowship and brotherhood I share with you:  My brothers and sisters of Arabia.  In’ sha’ Allah!

Michael Crocker
Founder, Aramco Brats, Inc. USA
Lived with his family in Saudi Arabia from 1942 until 1981